Bishop’s Homily for the Mass of 14 March 2014

In his homily on Friday at his Mass, Bishop Robert F. Vasa observed that “in today’s readings, we continue this Lenten focus on extremes, opposites.”
In the first reading, the prophet Ezekiel relates the words of the Lord, saying, “But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity and does the same abominable things that the wicked man does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds which he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, he shall die.”
“There is no such thing as a ‘little infidelity’ to God…” observed Bishop Vasa, “and we hear repeated several times the phrases ‘turn to’ and ‘from.’ When we turn to Christ from evil, we necessarily turn our back to that which we reject. Jesus says, ‘No one can serve two masters well; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despite the other.”
“So when someone turns toward evil to whatever degree, with that same degree, he turns from God.
“Ask yourself and pray about this: ‘To what extent is my life headed to God?’”
The bishop closed by noting “the gospel asks us to choose to turn to God and away from evil.”